How and where to "practice" for Raja Ampat currents

[anchochile]

I've been diving for about a year and a half and have 80 dives under my belt, in Monterey/Carmel, Key Largo, Hawaii, and Bali. In about two years from now, I will get a 6-week sabbatical from work, and I want to take advantage of this potentially once-in-a-lifetime amount of time off to go to Raja Ampat - in late 2021 or early 2022. With its remoteness, I can't imagine another time I'll be able to take the amount of travel time required - I need to save my limited vacation time for trips with my family, not multi-week solo getaways.

I'm very confident and comfortable in most recreational diving situations - cold water, deep, compass navigation, low-viz, etc. But of my 80 dives, only 2 or 3 have featured currents strong enough to be a real factor.

Given the currents that can be encountered in Raja, I would like to make sure I am experienced and prepared for diving in these conditions so that I can make the most of the trip. Luckly, I have at least two years to prepare.

Some of the basic skills I can work on at my local Monterey dive sites - deploying an SMB from depth, using a reef hook, etc.

But I would also like to plan one or two dive trips before Raja where I can gain real experience diving in current. I would love advice on the best locations to do this that are a reasonable trip from California - probably either Baja or the Caribbean.

The most obvious answer that comes to mind is Cozumel. But as I understand it, Coz is mainly drift dives - will that be sufficient practice for Raja, where I believe many of the high-current dives are not necessarily dirfts. Any other suggestions?

 

[Dan]

Don't worry too much about it. You'll be learning it on site pretty quickly. In Raja Ampat, the ratio between divers to DM at the most is 4. So DM will be with you to guide & show you all the tricks. Just stay close to him & watch.

DM will know the right time & place to take you. He will bring you to more advance dive sites as you become more experience and comfortable with current diving.

We do carry reef hooks and / or pointers and hover near reef to stay put in the current by hooking on to rock or digging into sand with the pointer, hiding behind boomies / boulders when the currents are getting too stiff. If we are in the blue water, then we just drift.

Since you are not allow to wear gloves in Raja Ampat, as a way to prevent you from touching the corals, you will see that most divers in Raja Ampat carry about a foot-long pointers. The pointer is not only useful for anchoring yourself on a rock or sand during current diving, but also for stabilizing yourself when taking pictures and keeping your hand off the corals with enough distance from any stinging hydroids, which are plenty around in Raja Ampat. I see rookies coming back home with battle scars on their hands from stinging hydroids.

Learning to launch DSMB at depth is the most important skill in diving in the current. You can practice that in just about any where.

 

[Trailboss123]

Basically, everything that @Dan just said. But if you do want to get some practice diving in currents and drift diving, which is not a bad idea, since you have 2 years, then I would suggest Cozumel or Florida (Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, Jupiter). The diving in both places is excellent.

 

[chillyinCanada]

You could go to Maldives

Oops, you said reasonable distance. My bad.

 

[Dan]

Should you get separated from the group at depth by strong current, you would need to be able to deploy DSMB soon before the dinghy / tender above you is losing track of your bubbles. Here is a good video to watch for deploying DSMB in a current at depth:

 

[runsongas]

palau?

 

[Dan]

LOL Palau is 500 miles north of Raja Ampat. However it is the capital of current diving, places like Blue Corner, Peleliu Cut, etc. That is where reef hook diving is invented.

Speaking of reef hook, check out Alec Peirce talk about it, below:

 

[Scared Silly]

Go to Coz. The diving there is all drift diving, you can deploy a marker at end of each dive.

 

[Doc]

Cozumel, a word uttered by those who have not been to Six Flags over Speyside in Tobago.

Ask for Heart Attack, Washing Machine, and the log plume ride called African Express.

There are crazier currents in the Caribbean, but not easily accessible...Cisne, Los Roques, NE Grenada.

Tobago is just plain nuts when done properly

 

[chillyinCanada]

Cozumel, a word uttered by those who have not been to Six Flags over Speyside in Tobago.

Ask for Heart Attack, Washing Machine, and the log plume ride called African Express.

There are crazier currents in the Caribbean, but not easily accessible...Cisne, Los Roques, NE Grenada.

Tobago is just plain nuts when done properly

I guess that I've done it properly